Campaign 2014: Muradian says experience will help him fight for district

Mike Gleason/Daily News Staff

Thursday

Oct 30, 2014 at 12:01 AM

As he campaigns for the 9th Worcester state representative seat, Republican David Muradian is emphasizing the need to bring more state resources to the district.

Muradian, a Grafton resident, is running against Democrat Marty Green of Northbridge for the seat currently occupied by longtime state Rep. George Peterson, R-Grafton. Muradian served as an aide to Peterson, who is retiring at the end of his term, for the past seven years.

According to Muradian, Massachusetts towns have been short-changed by the state government.

"The state budget has been up $1 billion in each of the last 10 years, while local aid has gone down $300 million," he said. "We don't have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem."

Muradian said he believes years of one-party rule at the state level has caused the issue, and that reform is needed.

"I think there's a bunch of fraud and abuse in the system," he said.

Another area that needs to be explored is education funding, Muradian said. He noted that special education costs in particular can get out of hand for local school districts.

"I would look at the foundation budget formula and see what we could do to change that," he said. "I would also explore fully funding the special education 'circuit breaker' (which reimburses school districts for special education costs)."

Green has been emphasizing "real world" experience, but Muradian said he believes his time working with Peterson would help him be immediately effective in the state representative position.

"It's huge," he said. "There are so many relationships I've already forged with state representatives, staffers, and others."

"I have relevant experience to the job," he added.

Muradian said he was proud of the work done by his campaign so far.

"I'm excited to be here - we've been working hard since day one," he said. "It's certainly been rewarding."

Mike Gleason can be reached at 508-634-7546 or mgleason@wickedlocal.com. For news throughout the day, follow him on Twitter @MGleason_MDN.

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